Around-the-clock vigilance kept injury and illness
rates low during demolition and site clearing.

OSHA recently wrapped up its 24-hour-a-day effort supporting and advising workers performing demolition and site-clearing operations at the World Trade Center site. OSHA staff-including members of the Manhattan Area Office whose office was destroyed in the September 11 attack-responded to the disaster immediately. They worked around-the-clock conducting air and bulk sampling, distributing personal protective equipment, conducting respirator fit testing, and performing safety monitoring for workers at the site.

Throughout the operation, 1,055 OSHA staffers from all 10 regions, the national office, and 33 states served almost 15,000 8-hour tours of duty at the site. The New York Regional Office and its 12 area offices served 8,600 of those tours. In addition, 13 Special Government Employees from the Voluntary Protection Programs contributed 70 tours of duty.

New York OSHA Regional Administrator Patricia K. Clark praised the dedication of her staff and OSHA professionals from around the country who supported the effort. She credits their contribution, coupled with the two partnerships to promote worker safety and health at the sites, for the success in keeping injury rates low.

After nearly 3.7 million work hours, only 57 workers at the site suffered injuries that resulted in lost workdays. What's more, no worker fatalities occurred at the site. The World Trade Center Emergency Partnership Agreements concluded July 1.

Officials from the New York Regional Office participated in a May 30 ceremony marking the end of the recovery and cleanup effort, and the agency officially concluded its operations at the site on June 25. Several days later, the New York Fire Department and New York City Department of Design and Construction, co-incident commanders, returned jurisdiction of the site to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The Manhattan Area Office moved into its new permanent space on July 22. Its new address is: 201 Varick Street, Room 908, New York, NY 10014. The main phone number is (212) 620-3200.

OSHA staffers attend the ceremony honoring
the workers, recovery teams, contractors,
unions, and government agencies participating
in the cleanup and recovery.